WHY BOTHER?

It has rained most all day where I am. This winter has seen its share of wet weather and clouds. Today, Monday, reminds me of the song “rainy days and Mondays always get me down.” Kudos to those in the Northwest. I am not sure I could take all the cloudy days. I work while my wife attends the funeral of a friend’s father. Such is life.

However, I do think I have had some insight. Observing Baptist congregations leads me to believe that the old “pot luck” meal is a metaphor for how we do church and why there is so much division. It is ‘pot luck’.

But lest we curse the darkness, there is light.

Thom Rainer re-tweeted from @EssentialChurch  that “The formerly unchurched are insistent that the church be uncompromising in its beliefs. They are tired of a theologically tolerant culture.” (That was one hour after he tweeted he was in conversation with Paige Patterson.)  

My recent experiences with churches has confirmed that and more. It is the younger people who are demanding we dig deep and have theological content. Here are some examples from my experience.

A pastor of a local congregation made up primarily of those under 40 recently led his leadership team through Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.  I’m reporting here, not advertising, so if Grudem isn’t your favorite, you choose another. As a result of that, at least one group of lay persons in the church did the same things and each couple bought the “unabridged” edition and they are working their way through it.

A 24 year old came to me where I serve as interim and inquired about starting a small group that would study theology. He laid our the need and the desire.

I casually mentioned Calvinism in a recent sermon. In small group discussion (we were in an emphasis where the pastor’s series were discussed in small group format on Sunday evening with the focus being application) one person in the after-40 age group asked, “what’s Calvinism”.

One in an older generation said “no one listens past 20 minutes” while a 30-something said “man, forget the clock. If it is 10 minutes or 40 minutes, give what God has given you.”

All of these are examples from various locations of current reality in some churches. God is still “able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think – according to the power that works in you – to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” -Ephesians 3:20-21

Could one apply “generations” to all age groups alive today as well as the immediate context of future generations? Since each is in a sense “future”, I think so.

So why bother on a rainy Monday? Sunday’s coming!!

WHAT DO YOU DO MID-WEEK?

It’s Wednesday. Hump Day. Plan for the week-end. What does your congregation do?

Most have structured various missions, choir, Bible study programs on Wed. nite. Some have a meal for the convenience of those coming from work. Of course that assumes most work late or in the metropolitan areas, fight traffic.

John Franklin has written a book “Dynamic Prayer Meetings” that is one of LifeWay’s resources. You can see that and all their resources on prayer here.  John advocates returning to the old Wednesday night where prayer was the focus. He also offers other suggestions.

Some congregations retain the prayer meeting for those who have no other activities. Attendees are usually (1) very committed to the ministry of prayer, believing the church ought to have such a time, (2) stuck at church with other family members in other activities and need a place to land, or (3) it is traditional to go to Wednesday nite prayer meeting.

So what does your church do? If you do not pray on Wednesday nights as a corporate body, when do you pray as such?

I would not imply that corporate prayer replaces personal prayer. Both are necessary for the spiritual health of the Body.

Have you discovered a structure that facilitates the corporate prayer of your congregation? Would you share it with us?

Is God answering the corporate prayers of your congregation?

LOVE LIFTED ME

Have you ever sung the hymn, “Love Lifted Me”? When I was an older boy and young teen, my peers and I were not the most “holy” group in the church. So, we would sit in the back, singing “I was sinking deep in sin” and turn to a buddy and say “Wheee!”

We understood sin only as a behavior and had little if any knowledge that sin was a condition of the human heart. We were already deep in sin but thought since we hadn’t had opportunity to commit the big ones we were OK. Cultural changes came so fast “change” almost became a sedative.

I given serious thought to the concept that one reason we love change is that it provides an escape from accountability. When things are changing so fast, or we are causing them to change so fast, there is little time to evaluate whether or not the changes are worthwhile and productive. And one cannot be held accountable without proper measurement.

Do not hear this as a rant against change.

But when we are so focused on the things related to the administration and growth of the church we can easily lose sight of core biblical truth.  Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)

Jesus actually said that. No amount of exegetical maneuvering will change that simple statement. It even works in context.

“Know” – intimate knowledge. Not just intellectual awareness, but deep, intimate knowledge. On another occasion Jesus said, “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life.” (John 14:6)

We youngsters, steeped in sin and blinded by the error that the essence of sin was badness, were laughing our way to perdition because we had not committed the “biggies”. No amount of self-reform would change us. There had to be deep conviction that what was wrong with us was internal, not external. And only the truth could set us free.

In a similar way, I believe we in the church have spent years cleaning the outside of the cup using our different methods, programs, and emphasis, while the inside has been stained beyond recognition.

I am encouraged by what I hear from the Great Commission Resurgence commission report. It points us to Jesus. Perhaps we as a people called Southern Baptists will be blessed by God with a deep conviction that what is wrong with us is internal, not external. May we return with words in repentance and submission to Him.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

THE SBC IN 2010…A VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS

This post is not intended at all to complain or to offend anyone but the Devil. And I pray I offend him every single day with every single action. Unfortunately, I do not. But I seek to do so.

This post’s intent is to challenge all who seek to be used to advance the purpose and intent of our Sovereign God. It is an observation with that challenge especially for younger pastors in chronological age and those who recognize they are aging, but refuse to get old.

There is a difference. Some of you young guys are already old and seeking how you may “climb the ladder of  success.” You are already on the road to irrelevance in the Kingdom of God.  And some of us who are aging are not as “old” as our appearance.

My observation throughout the years has been that of being close to some “insiders” and yet not close enough to influence decisions. In other words, I have been in the house but not at the table. At times I feel somewhat frustrated but then I review the ministry God has given and I am overwhelmed by the grace and mercy extended me.  I am very grateful some things I wanted early in my ministry were kept from me. And I look forward to the future although I do not know what that will be. Our all-seeing, all-knowing, all-present God is always faithful to us, even when we are failing in our faithfulness to Him.

Thus, my view is from the cheap seats. Here are some of my observations.

A Great Commission Resurgence is much-needed. But my question is why a denomination that believes Scripture is both inerrant and sufficient needs a Great Commission Resurgence? Please do not interpret that as critical of the concept or the committee. Hear the question: Why do we need? And if we do need this and it is biblical, why are we waiting for a committee report to obey God? How many times must Scripture speak before we obey?

There are churches that no longer visit prospects. I was actually told by one staff member that he typically waited until someone visited twice because the second visit indicated there might be serious interest about the church. I have had others, seminary trained, who simply do not visit. Some talk of “attractional” methods. Tell me what is attractive about a church that has lost its passion for Christ and those for whom he died?

Where does a local GCR begin? It begins with leadership in precept, principle, and example.

We have emphasized church growth, then church health, now we have a Great Commission Resurgence committee. God bless them. Those who initiated and suggested this were people of integrity and passion. The same is true for the committee. They seem to desire to be catalysts to move the SBC as a body toward incremental and necessary change.

But you, pastor, do not have to wait until Orlando to change. What is the Spirit saying to the churches? I submit the same things he has said all along recorded in Revelation 2-3 and other passages applicable to the subject.

Has “revival” become a cop-out for such things as passion, caring, obedience and hard work? We do not really know much about revival other than what we have read. We may have had what some call “mercy drops”, but a national or denominational revival/awakening has not been seen by anyone alive today. Biblically, those are mostly Old Testament passages. It is not the cry of the New Testament. The closest in the New is a call to a busy church to remember their first love, turn around, and return to that first love. And I believe that is a first love of loving Christ as well as loving others (Rev. 2:1-7). It seems consistent with the Great Commandment of Matthew 22:34-40.

There is an article here in the Southern Baptist Texan. It is well written and acknowledges that revival/spiritual awakening seems to be predicated upon prayer and the Sovereignty of God. There are those that reduce God’s Sovereignty to man’s formula. We would not do so in precept, but we often do in principle with our methods. Roy Fish, one of God’s greatest gifts to Southern Baptists and the world, is quoted in the article. One of the most crucial concepts is this: “Yet Fish added that awakening—a term he uses synonymously with revival—is not merely the result of believers meeting certain conditions in a formula. In fact, two churches could seek God identically but  only one congregation experience revival, he said.”

So my observation is this. We as leaders should lead our people to passionately pursue communion with God through prayer privately and corporately. I do not believe it offensive to lost people who are intelligent enough to know they have entered a place of worship called a church. They may even have expectation that we would pray.

Justice is big stuff these days. It is ”big stuff” and later blog posts will address the subject.

What is justice? This particular post will not go into theological definitions and nuances of the term. However, one has said that justice is righting past wrongs. This particular definition was given within the bounds of biblical truth. One could also say that in a great sense justice is cooperating with the mission of Christ to push back the darkness (see Isa. 61 and Luke 4). If that is true, then not only good works, but also prayer and evangelism become part of any biblical concept of justice.

I may give a cup of cold water and/or food in Jesus’ name, and I should. But if I do not give biblical hope, that person may perish on a full stomach and spend eternity apart from God’s grace but eternally present with His wrath. Good works should not at all be manipulative for the purpose of getting ”decisions”. But somewhere in the conversation, eternal hope through the Gospel of Christ must be clear.

Doing all the Great Commission indeed involves evangelism, discipleship (inclusive of prayer and justice), and bringing people into the local Body of Christ. Again the question: Why do we need a GCR committee?

If indeed there is need, and there appears to be, then is not our immediate and personal response that of heeding John’s call to the Ephesian church in Rev. 2:1-7?

Like I said – it is my view from the cheap seats. How many more churches could be started, mission trips taken, and people helped with the monies we spend trying to motivate professing Christians to simply obey the elementary commands of Christ? Think about it.